Insulated rail-joint.



c.' a. mum. INSULATIED RAIL JOINT. Amlcmou min'suui 15. ms.

Patented Feb. 13,1917.

vvvvv WIQTNESSES 5 W 7% 48v s f Charla I i Mics is. nA Lo 'j on nonnoxn,VIRGINIA, nssmnon "10 BA LLOU SAFETY nan. om'r AND nuncomrmy, ornoenoxn, VIRGINIA, A com ona'rxon or ,nnnn- WABE. 1

Application filed June 15, 1916.

7 To on whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Oneness E. BALLDU, a citizen of the United States,residing at Roanoke in the county of. Roanoke and State of Virginia,have invented certain new andnseful Improvements in Insulatedltaib 'fJoints, of which the following is a SPGCl-v fication.

This invention has reference to rail joints and particularly to jointsdesigned to' be used lIl C-OIlIlGQiJIOII with rails carrying electriccurrents, and the object of the invention is to provide a particularlyGflICIlGIlt structure-{or insulating the rails at the joints.

,In accordance with the present invention fish plates are employed tospan the rail joint and in connection With each fish plate a there is afiller bar through which, as Well as the fish plates, fastening boltsare passed.

Thesefastening bolts, however, are oi particularconstruction and forbest results are needful ,to insure lasting qualities of the inof thisspecification, with the further under su lated joint.

The invention ,willz best understood from a consideration of thefollowing detailed description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings forming part rail oint constructed in accordancewith the f Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1. I

Fig. '3 is a sec gion'on the line 3-4-3 of Referring to thedrawin'gs'there areshown the meeting, ends'of two railsJ and 2, re,

present invention.

spectively,'these rails being ofth e ordinary type employed inrailroads] The meeting ends of the rails 'are separated by sheets 3of'insulating lnatcrial'so that the rails may not come into end to endelectrical contact.

The ends of ,:the two rails-l and, 2;,are ;j by; fishpl'altes, 4} which,liowex r H differ somewhat from fish plates as'ordinariiyconstructedg'fbeingvof aheight s'omeivhat less than the distance betweenthe flanges-11d,

Specification of Letters Patent.

INSULATED RAIL-JOINT.

Patented Feb. 13, 1917.

Serial No. 103,780.

under face of the bread of the rail, so that sheets 5 of insulatingmaterial may be interposed between those fa cos of the fish plates nextto the rail and the rail itself including the flange, web and tre id ofthe. rail. Each fish plate is formed alo 1g its outer face with alongitudinal groove '5- and along its inner face with a longitudir algroove 7 and the fish plates and rails aie traversed by bolts, for whichpurpose the. 1 ish plates have trans verse holes 9 t erethrol lghsufiiciently larger than the thanks of the bolts to admit the passage ofsleeves 100E insulating material long enough to reach from the Web ofthe respective rail to the g 'oove or channel 6 in the outer face of thefish plate, and each I STATES PATENT QFFICE.

sheet 5 of insulating m tterial has a perform tion 11 suitably situatelto permit the inner end of the corresponding sleeve 10 to enter it.Seated in each gror ve 6 are filler bars12 of such width and thicknessas to permit the introduction of a sheet 13. of insulating materialbetween the fillkr bar and-the walls of the groove 6 of the 15 sh plate4. The filler bars are individual to the respective rail ends 1 and 2,that is, hey do not'span the meeting ends'of the ra ls, and are there appropriately separated so that there can be no electrical contactletvveenthe adjacent ends of the filler bars. The bolts 8 have heads 14 at oneend and elongated threaded portions 15' at the other end and are longei'iough to traverse 'nrt only the rail Web and fish plates, but 'tliefiller barsas Well, with the heads 1i engaging the outerfaces oi res.icctive filler bras and the threaded v ends 15 projecting beyond theouter faces of the opposite filler bars Following the customary practicethe bolts, ofwhich there are usually four, altliiouglfl more may beused,

have alternate ones w th "the heads Dunne side of the rails and thethreaded ends on, the other side of"- the, 1 ails," thus in: "th .c' eof four bolts, two heats willapp'ear on side of the rails and two headswill appear on the other side of the rails. The filleribai swheretraversed by the threaded ends of the bolts have tapering passages 16,While the bolts are provided with nuts 17 having axi all yextendedtapering shanks 18 adaptedto the tapering passages ,1 Each bolthas the;

portion of [the shfankfm .j'acii t to {the head and indicated in the diawings am l w x' culai' shape. wh le the holes. in the filler jb fllfStltlTifl'Std by the portions. 19? of, t

bility of the flanges of the wheels running shanks are similarly shaped,so that the bolts will not turn when the nuts 17 are screwed up. Byforming the stems or shanks 18 of the nuts with a relatively long or.small angle taper they enter tightly and securely into the correspondingtaper passages 16 of the filler bars and when once screwed up areunyielding to various forces tending to loosen the nuts, this havingbeen .provcn by long experience. The result is that with bolts shown anddescribed there is no liability at all of loosening oi' the parts, afterbeing once assembled, due to any of the shocks and jarswhich may occurin railroad trallic, wherefore there is no movement of the metal partsupon the insulation and the latter does not become worn or otherwiseinjured, even after long lapses of time.

The fish plates are insulated along their full length, by the insulatingsheets 5, from the rails. along the full length of each from the fishplates by the insulating, sheets 13. The bolts are not insulated fromthe tiller bars. but are insulated from the fish plates by the sleeves9. Moreover, the bolts are not insulated from the rails, However, therails being, insulated one from the other at the meetin ends and fromthe fish plates, and the fillirr bars'being insulated from each other,the two rails are also insulated one from the other at all points wherethere is liability ofa circuit being established be tween the rails. areso firmly united that there-can be no creeping with respect to the fishplatesand rails, or rails and bolts, or bolts andfiller bars, so thatthe insulation is at no point subjected to rubbing forces andconsequently maintains its vefliciency indefinitely.

The filler bars 12 and the grooves 6 taper in such manner that thefiller bars wedge into the grooves when seated by the bolts and thisfurther produces a tight fit and eliminates all frictional wear besidekeeping out any Water which may reach the joint. The fish plates alsotaper toward the web of the rail and the sheets 5 of insulating materialare correspondingly tightly wedged in place. To prevent any possion thetracks 1 and 9. from engaging the 'fisli plates, which outstandconsiderably from the.treads of the rails, and to a greater exten t thancustomary, these outstanding portions, indicated at 9.0; aresufficiently lower than the level of the bottoms of the rail treads sothat when the treads ofthe rails wear the flanges of the wheels willstill clear the outstanding portions 20 of the fish plates. v

The particular thickness and width of the fish plates and their partsmay vary in accordance with the size of joint. The insulation may beactually continuous from end The filler bars 12 are insulated At thesame time the railsto end or may be sectional, that is, in one or morepieces, while the thickness will depend upon the conditions to be met.

' One great advantage of the present in,- vention is that the insulationis complete and will remain complete and tight the same as though noinsulation at all were used. The taper-shank nut is of importance inthat it insures the stability of the parts because the nuts do notloosen under trafiic conditions, altl'ioug'h readily tightened orloosened by a purposely applied force.

The filler bars are du ')licates and so may be used on either side ofthe joint, while the bolls having, their head ends so seated in theliller bars as to be there non-rotatable do not have to be held whilethe nuts are turned with a wrench, as is now done in most insulatedjoints, and has much-to do with keeping the joint tight or tightening itshould itbecome loose from any cause.

What is claimed is 1. An insulated rail joint, comprising fish phitcseach of a length corresponding to bars and fishplatesand the webs oftherails.

2. An insulated rail plates each of a length corresponding to the lengthof the joint with each fish plate having a longitudinal groove in itsouter face a filler b'ar adapted to each groove, insulating materialbetween each fish late and rail and between each filler bar. an fishplate, and bolts traversing the filler bars and fish plates and the websof the rails, each bolt having a nut with an axially extended tapershank and each filler bar where traversed by the end of the bolt towhich the nut is applied having a taper hole adapted to receive thetaper shank of the nut.

3. Aninsulated rail joint, comprising fish plates each of a lengthcorrespondingto the length ofthe joint with each fish plate having alongitudinal, groove in its outer face,

a filler bar adapted to each groove, in'sulating m aterial between thefish plate and.

joint, comprising fish applied having a taper hole adapted to re- Iceive the taper shank of the nut, and'each bolt havin the head 'end ofnon-circular contour wlth the filler plate where" traw ersed by thenon-rotatable portion /of the bolt similarly shaped to prevent'rotationof the bolt. i 5/ 4. A rail joint having fish plates com- Bface taperingtoward the bottom, of the lckness to extend beyond the outer edges ofthe treads of the rails, each fish plate having a longitudinal groove inits outer nsgonding in length to the jointand of a t groove and of alength correspondin to the length of the fish plate, filler bars a aptedto the grooves in the fish plates and cor-' respondingly tapering incross-sectionto the 1 taper of the grooves, the filler barsbeingindividual to the respective rails and sepa-, rated at theiradjacent ends, insulation between the meeting ends of the rails, betweenthe fish' plates and the rails, and between the filler bars and thefish. plates, and bolts of the grooves. the filler bars being indi-v'vidual to the respective rails and separated at their adjacent ends,insulation between themeeting ends of the ralls, betweengthe v fishplates and the rails and between the filler bars and the fish plat: as,and bolts traversing the filler bars, fish plates and webs of the railsand insulated from the fish plates, said bolts having lead ends ofnonrotatable contour with the filler here where traversed thereby ofcoriesponding shape and the nut receiving ends of the bolts having nutstherefor with taper axially extended shanks and the filler harswheretraversed thereby having cor :esponding taper holes.

GVAn insulated'rail joint for the meeting ends of railway railscomprising fish plates spanning the meeting ends of the rails andinsulated therefrom, filler barsseated in the outer faces of'the is [1plates and each of a length'to be .ll'lll\'l(lllll to a respective rail,and bolts traversing; tile filler bars, fish plates and webs of therails for connecting them together, the rails being in insulatedrelation at their n'ieeting e1 ds, the fish plates being insulated fromthe rails and bolts and the filler bars being insula ted from the fish lplates and in insulated rel ition at their ad jacent ends.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in the presence of twowitnesses. CHARLES E BALLOU.

, \Vitnesses: ERNEST H. JENNINGS, Hn'rrmM. Wurrnow

